Sgt. Easton McDonald believed his daughter to be an intruder. He was getting ready for work when his daughter snuck into their home.

McDonald believed his daughter had been in her room asleep for hours, according to Frederick County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

His daughter had left the house about two hours prior to the shooting to meet a friend.

“This was corroborated by Mr. McDonald’s daughter, who is still hospitalized, recovering from her injuries. Believing that all family members were present and accounted for within the home, Mr. McDonald mistakenly believed that the person or persons attempting to enter his home through the garage represented a dangerous intrusion,” the commonwealth's attorney's office said in a prepared statement.

EdMyers - Gun ownership is a right, it does not define use, the laws do that. As for abortion, it’s not a right, it was justs deemed legal. Free speech is a right, though there are laws in some cases as to how it’s used - can’t yell fire in a occupied room unless there is a fire.

Thankfully the statistician and all knowing fedupdude is here to parse this all out for us, otherwise we wouldn’t know what to do for our own safety.

On another thread he indicated that since B&E’s were rare in Frederick, no one should worry about them. If you get pistol whipped, your wife raped and children shot in the head because someone broke into your house at 3:30 am in Frederick, take comfort in the fact that the know it all genius of the LTM comments section said “statistically this won’t happen”.

Don’t worry about your own safety and don’t think for yourself because fedupdude has this ALL figured out!

Gun ownership for self protection is a right. So is abortion. Despite that our collective policy should be to have options available so that individuals never have the need to exercise either of those rights. We must also counter those who encourage exercising these rights frivolously (e.g. using abortion as birth control; buying a gun to enable vigilantism.)

Lets add to the fact that suicide rates are equal in the USA as to the UK so guns might be the favored way in America but no more effective than other violent suicide methods other nations use. Japan has 4 times the suicide rate with almost no firearms at all.

Add to this Northern VA has high traffic fatalities and low murder and suicide rates. In VA the majority of the suicide rate is in poor rural southwest VA; if you bother to look at the facts and not just make vague half truth statements.

Now let look at children, suicide is almost nonexistent until they are older (the older generations make up a major part of the current suicide rate as they lost everything in the recession), homicide of a child in Loudoun, when was the last case a decade ago, yet traffic fatalities, there are 6 involving kids on this papers site in the last few months. Pedestrians and passengers.

Then lest look at the CDC charts on accidents for kids under 18 years, guns are #20 with about 60 a year. Car accidents #1 at over 3500, drowning over 1000, fire over 1000, slip and falls over 600, bike accidents over 500, lack of seat belts on a bus kills over 300 a year; over 4 times guns. Need I say more about the hyperbole?

“Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.”

Well isn’t that one of the biggest no-duh statements of the year. People use whatever tool they have available for whatever purpose they have in mind.

The risk of having a spoon in the house for personal feeding is that it is more likely to cause obesity to a family member than to save them from starving. Think about that the next time you want to go on a gun rant.

Ed I could take time to take apart whats wrong with that methodology but it falls on def ears. Suicide for instance is just as high in the rest of the 1st world as here and we have far more guns, more than twice the next 1st world nation. If guns were the problem we would lead in suicide not be on par.

Abstract from a 2004 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology:

“Data from a US mortality follow-back survey were analyzed to determine whether having a firearm in the home increases the risk of a violent death in the home and whether risk varies by storage practice, type of gun, or number of guns in the home. Those persons with guns in the home were at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 3.4). They were also at greater risk of dying from a firearm homicide, but risk varied by age and whether the person was living with others at the time of death. The risk of dying from a suicide in the home was greater for males in homes with guns than for males without guns in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 10.4, 95% confidence interval: 5.8, 18.9). Persons with guns in the home were also more likely to have died from suicide committed with a firearm than from one committed by using a different method (adjusted odds ratio = 31.1, 95% confidence interval: 19.5, 49.6). Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.”

Statistically my daughter is more likely to be run over walking to school or dying in an accident on a school bus lacking safety belts than injured by my firearm. That is not even getting into the far more likely causes of death in children like car accidents with parents; a bike accident; fire; slip and fall; drowning at a pool, in the ocean, or even the tub; etc. Gun accidents are #20 in the cause of death of children.

For teens the #1 cause of death is poor driving. Guns accidents don’t even come close, its comparing a stream to a great lake.

That said anyone with a teenager thinking that the person in the home trying to turn the alarm off at 3am is a person breaking in clearly does not read the crime reports. In Fredrick County they have had 2 B&Es; all year both in Winchester and it sounds like this guy is in the rural country side. It literally like 300,000 to 1 that is burglar and not your teen.

Though the deputy was within his legal right to shoot his stupid daughter, he’s still an idiot and should be released from duty from the department as he shows a total lack of judgement and should not be trusted with a weapon.

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